


Cut You Out

by Raynidreams



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Consent Issues, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Jakku
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-11 11:27:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13523283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raynidreams/pseuds/Raynidreams
Summary: Flash fic. Kylo leaves the First Order. Rey comes to help.





	Cut You Out

**Author's Note:**

> Written because I'm bogged down with WIPs.

 

"I've left," he says. His head is down but he looks up to find her. He half blinks, face soulful beneath his fall of hair.

She snorts and drops the severed lightsabre she'd been holding to the floor. "It's too late. I begged you and you stayed."

"I know." He takes a breath, straightens and puts his hands behind his back. "I came to say goodbye. That was all."

Her gaze darts to his. "What do you mean?"

He emulates her snort, darkly amused. "Not that." His posture drops again and he swallows a couple of times, mouth finding the right words. "I'll find a planet. Somewhere where there's no one else, then disable the hyperdrive. I won't be able to do any more damage that way."

Her brows draw together. "But what if something goes wrong?"

"Then it doesn't matter."

He nods, ready to leave.

She jumps up. "Let me give you the map."

He frowns then realises what she's saying. "No."

"Yes. It's a place of balance. You will be safe there. There's food and shelter."

"No."

***

 

She wakes from an agony not her own.

"What happened?" she yells, scrambling urgently out of bed, blaster in hand.

He is bleeding, dragging himself on his back painfully to somewhere she can't see.

"First Order—there's no real grey area in exiting. You're with them or you're dead."

"Can you fly?"

"I think so, but I've only fuel for one jump."

"Where can you get to?"

An utterly exhausted expression crosses his face. He wipes his hair back with a hand, smearing blood through sweat and ash. "Nowhere."

She reaches for his hand and rapid-fire thoughts back and forth fill her mind. "Go to Jakku. I can show you how to survive. If it's solitude you seek, there's no better place to find it." He shakes his head but she seizes his chin. "Go, and I'll come to you."

His dark eyes watch her rise to standing. She's hardly dressed she realises.

***

 

Rey lands the battered A-wing starfighter in swirls of dust. The shuttle gangway is open when she approaches his ship. He's lay up against a wall fitfully asleep, hand held limply to his side, fingers filled with blood from which flies land and depart.

She could let him die. He'd deserve it, but more, he deserves to realise what he is. She rummages through the Upsilon, looking at what he'd taken with him, which was hardly anything. Meagre food and water resources. A small medi kit. She collects it.

Back with him, he's roused, probably sensing her on the periphery of his thoughts.

He stays quiet and doesn't resist as she cuts off his uniform jacket to get to the wound in his side. It looked like he'd been speared with something. Glancing by his body, she realises it was a part of the ship.

"I'm not sure if I can fix this."

"It's nothing."

She grits her teeth and sets to cleaning and stitching the wound. "Your previsions are terrible."

"It was get out with nothing or not get out at all."

By the time she's cleaned him up, his face is ashen and his eyes are closed.

***

 

"How did you convince them to let you leave?" he asks her a day later when he comes round.

"I didn't. I left a message with BB-8."

Without enquiring if he wants any, she spoons mushy soup into his mouth. He swallows obediently. "Did you tell them the truth?" he asks further when his mouth is empty.

"Yes and no."

"That sounds like a no.”

She forces him to take another mouthful. "I said I had a friend in need."

He pauses before he takes the next lot of food offered. He does so, chews, then prompts, "Is that what we are? Friends?"

"No," she snaps. "You don't mean as much." She puts the bowl down and drops the spoon into the food carelessly.

"Nor as little" He coughs and winces. Trying to get comfortable, he shuffles on the pallet he lays on taking heaving breaths.

Her ire settles. She puts a hand to his sweaty forehead gently. "How do you feel?"

He pulls back from her touch forcefully. With a groan, twists on his good side, away from her. "I'll be fine.”

“Do you want some water?”

“No. You shouldn't stay any longer. You might not be able to find your way back."

She watches the rise and fall of his ribs. Outside, a sandstorm blazes. She laughs bitterly and settles back on her knees. "I won't be leaving for a few days. This time of year, the storms rage uncontrollably. You're going to have to learn that, if you are to survive."

***

 

A jagged edge of broken metal gleams red on the panel before her. Rey curses and brings her thumb to her lip, sucking on the droplets of blood that pool.

"What are you doing?" he asks. “It's only life support they really hit. I won't need it grounded.”

"Many of the systems on here are an extravagance, especially the weaponry. If I can strip them down, we can trade them at the market for a water condenser and a speeder. You'll need them. We might also be able to get fuel. This location isn't the best to remain in."

She wipes the cut on her scarf and ducks her head back into the hole beyond the instrument panel.

"Apologies for where I crashed," he mutters behind her.

She stops what she's doing and rears back to glare at him. "Was that a joke?"

He inclines his head, eyes lidded. It makes him look— _something_. Rey's stomach flutters.

"Don't make jokes," she tells him in a sudden temper.

"Fine," he whispers. He stretches out awkwardly. "I need to get up soon. I'm seizing up. Do you want some help?"

"No. I want you to be quiet, get well, and then I can—"

"You can leave." He fiddles with the rough blanket covering his legs. “Good.”

“Fine!” she bites back.

***

 

He can move and he has the necessary supplies. If he needs more, she says he's only to ask. He nods but the sense she got from him was defiant. They sit in silence now, looking at the desert vista. The stars above are bright. The cool night air ruffles the edges of their loose clothes and tugs at hair. They are situated a foot apart, the fire cracking between them casting shadows over the distant parts of their faces.

Abruptly, she says, “You're destructive.”

He glances at her quickly, then looks to the fire. “Yes.”

“I need to cut you out of me.”

“You do,” he replies.

A rustle of movement sounds and her hands are on his face. She kisses him fiercely, fleetingly. His hands come to her waist. She pulls back from his lips, puts her forehead to his, then draws away, positioning herself back where she'd sat. She pins her sight on the distance, spine ramrod straight, features held tight.

He touches his lips with two fingers and doesn't say anything, even at first light when she gets up and leaves.

As she exits the atmosphere, she feels his mind brush hers. The emotions conveyed are complex, not able to be fully quantified, but she understands.

“I know,” she whispers to the air.

 


End file.
